It is desirable to have a cot for a baby or an infant which may be used when travelling or visiting, and such a cot must be both folded and transported easily. Various attempts have been made to provide such a cot, and two such cots are disclosed in EP1878365A1 and US2011/0031457A1. These cots employ folding mechanisms which use a complex tubular arrangement for the base. Further, the side-rails of the cots are foldable in a downward direction to move the cots into a stowed configuration. These two cots are both relatively complex to fold away, and do not allow for storage of the mattress within the cot when folded.
If the mattress may not be stowed within the cot when folded, it not only makes the cot more difficult to transport, and the mattress may become separated from the cot and subsequently lost or forgotten.
EP0501086A1 and US2008/0271244A1 both disclose more traditional cot arrangements, which are also difficult to fold and stow. Particularly, the cots shown in these documents are both complex to fold and unfold. Owing to their complex structures, these cots may also present a finger-trap hazard, which can be dangerous.
Prior art cot or infant bed arrangements are, in general, difficult to fold or move from a deployed configuration to a stowed configuration, large to stow, often require the mattress to be removed before it can be folded or stowed, and may present a finger trap or other injury hazard when being stowed.
Additionally, prior art cot or infant bed arrangements may take a considerable time to move from a deployed configuration to a stowed configuration, sometimes in excess of twenty minutes.